Friday, December 30, 2016

The
broken promise of ending endo and the spillover of the war on drugs to trade
unionists were the big issues that confronted workers in 2016. Still like the
rest of Filipinos, workers bid goodbye to the bad news of 2016 and look forward
to good tidings in 2017. A hope for the coming year is the forging of an
alliance for real change between millennial students and militant workers.

The
year seemed to augur well for workers as all the presidential candidates, in a
widely televised debate during the election campaign, promised to stop the
pernicious practice of contractualization. After his resounding victory,
Rodrigo Duterte followed through on that pledge with pronouncements that endo
will be abolished and directed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to
ensure this policy shift.

The
new DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello announced that a new department order on
contractualization will be issued by the end of 2016 after tripartite
consultations. Indeed three labor summits were even convened for Luzon, Visayas
and Mindanao.

However
the new draft DOLE DO 30, to replace DO 18-A promulgated under President Benino
Aquino III, has been universally condemned by the full spectrum of labor
groups, from the moderate to the militant. DO 30 has been soundly rejected by
organized labor as continuing rather than prohibiting outsourcing, subcontracting
and other forms of contractualization. The ball in now in halls of Malacanang
as the labor coalition Nagkaisa has called on DU30 to nix DO 30 and instead
uphold his promise of ending endo.

Aside
from the epic fail of DO 30, another bitter disappointment for workers was the government’s
lack of success in resolving the outsourcing dispute at Philippine Airlines (PAL).
For months, the DOLE mediated meetings between PAL and the union PALEA on the
issue of reinstating 600 employees who have bravely resisted endo at the flag
carrier. Yet this December, the DOLE refused to order PAL to enforce a
settlement agreement that provides for the re-employment of the PALEA 600. Bello’s
DOLE did a Pontius Pilate and ordered that the courts should instead resolve
the PAL-PALEA dispute.

Meanwhile,
as many have feared, the bloody war on drugs finally caught up with ranks of
organized labor. In the single month of September, two labor leaders were ambushed
vigilante style, six farmers killed and a union officer arrested by police on
trumped up drug charges. Just days apart, PM-Cebu leader Orlando Abangan was ambushed
on his way home while former union president Edilberto Miralles was gunned down
in front of the National Labor Relations Commission. In the heat of
preparations for union certification elections, Patricio Tago Jr., a union vice president, was abducted in
Tarlac by police and then imprisoned for allegedly being a drug pusher.
Calls for tripartite consultations and convening a task force on violent
attacks on unionists fell on deaf ears.

Various
labor groups have blamed the culture of impunity for the spillover of killings
onto the ranks of unionists. The groups have called for a stop to the killings
and the war on drugs itself. They also point out to the fact that the war on
drugs has indiscriminately targeted the poor and unemployed, which comprise
practically the 6,000 people killed so far.

So
before the end of the year, increasingly disillusioned over the Duterte
administration’s failed promise of ending endo, enacting social reforms like a
living wage, and implementing the “change is coming” slogan, militant workers were
ready to link up arms with millennial students who took the lead in spontaneous
protests against the hero’s burial for the dictator Marcos.

Thus
barely two weeks after the surprise interment of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga
Bayani, labor’s traditional Bonifacio Day marches became an occasion for
militant workers to join the #MarcosHindiBayani campaign. Student groups sent
delegations to the traditional workers rally in the morning and the labor
groups sent contingents to the evening protest at the People Power Monument
against the Marcos burial.

With
2016 drawing to a close and 2017 about to open, it is time to remember the past
even as the people look forward to the future. During the dark days of
martial law, it was the student and workers movement that was the backbone of
the people’s resistance against the Marcos dictatorship. Martyrs from the ranks
of the students, workers and other sectors are the real heroes of our country.

Marcos was ousted in a people power uprising but all the succeeding
governments failed to topple the structures of injustice and oppression that
mired Filipinos in dire poverty. Thus this led to a section of the population
prey to the historical revisionism and political ambitions of the Marcoses.
Likewise to a mass of Filipinos susceptible to the wiles of a president who
insists that the country’s problems can be reduced to drugs and criminality. The
present generation of students and workers face the challenge of continuing the
unfinished fight of the anti-dictatorship movement for real change.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Early this morning the management of the garments factory Faremo International Inc. at the Cavite ecozone in Rosario told workers at the picketline that two trucks loaded with machines will leave the factory today for shipment to Vietnam. The workers asserted that such will violate an agreement reached at the mediation meetings that no machines are to be taken out of the factory. The workers also asked for documents and permits for the shipment but none were presented by management.

Last December 16, a tense confrontation occurred when Faremo management also tried to spirit away machines. The PEZA police and industrial relations head Allan Datahan came to factory and threatened the workers with dispersal using a firetruck which was parked a corner away from the picketline. The workers insisted that the PEZA police cannot intervene in the dispute as per provisions of the DOLE-PNP-PEZA guidelines of 2011.

Monday, December 19, 2016

It’s dead on arrival (DA) for the proposed new Department Order (DO) on endo of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) as far as labor groups are concerned.

The draft DO, the country’s major labor groups under the labor coalition Nagkaisa declared, will not lead to the ultimate end but rather to the further strengthening of the legal standing of contractualization in the country.

“DOLE intends to adopt what all labor groups unanimously rejected during the labor summit – the ‘win-win solution’ of DTI. This could signal the end of President Duterte’s campaign promise to end endo,” declared Danny Edralin, Vice-Chair for the Private Sector of the Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa or SENTRO.

For Partido Manggagawa (PM): “The draft new DO may seem to restrict labor contracting to seasonal and project employment but these employment schemes may however be extended to cover jobs, work or services which are directly related to the business operations of a company. As such, contractualization of labor would still proliferate in the guise of describing the job, work or service as seasonal or project employment,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.

The working draft of the new DO was presented during the Tripartite Executive Committee (TEC) of the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) last week. Said DO recognizes trilateral employment relationship which has long been opposed by organized labor as it undermines workers’ rights to security of tenure, to organize and collectively bargain.

For TUCP, the proposed DO is unacceptable. “It is a mere rehash of what current laws already provide. It gives nothing new to workers. Change requires a DO that further restricts contractualization while a new law is needed to end contractualization,” said Luis Corral, Executive Director of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

‘Win-win’, for Nagkaisa, is DTI doublespeak roundly rejected as ‘lose-lose’ by workers. Thus, it is pushing for the passage of HB 4444 (Rep. Raymond Mendoza. TUCP Partylist) which prohibits contractualization and calls on Sec. Bello to endorse it for certification by President Duterte as an urgent Presidential measure. HB 4444 prohibits all fixed term contracts and criminalizes violations.

The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) on the other hand wanted to directly challenge President Duterte to completely prohibit endo by means of an executive order.

“The new draft DO is a mere attempt to rehash DO 18-A with sophisticated words to continue justifying contractualization under the Duterte regime. Thus, BMP now directly challenges President Duterte to immediately issue an Executive Order to strictly prohibit all forms of contractualization by urgently signing a draft EO which BMP crafted and submitted to the Office of the President last November 10, 2016 for instant Presidential executive action,” said its President Leody De Guzman.

Even public sector unions are disappointed on the way the end endo agenda of the Duterte administration regresses.

“The proposed DO officialises contractualization and bastardizes Duterte’s campaign platform to end contractualization,” said Annie Geron, President of the Public Services Independent Labor Confederation (PSLINK).

The government is being accused by labor groups as the single biggest practitioner of contractualization in the forms of job order (JO) and contracts of service (CS).

Friday, December 16, 2016

There was an hours-long standoff inside the Cavite
economic zone in the town of Rosario yesterday as protesting workers stopped a container
truck loaded with machines from leaving a dispute-bound factory. The tense
situation ended only when the truck left early last
night without its container load.

Workers of the garments factory Faremo International
Inc. slammed its Korean owners for attempting to spirit away computerized sewing
machines. They also condemned the industrial relations (IR) head of the
Philippine Economic Zone Authority for conniving with management.

“We caught Faremo violating an agreement that it will
not take out machines from the factory. Runaway shop is an unfair labor
practice and illegal. Faremo closed down its organized factory to bust the
union and is relocating to an unorganized plant whether in the Philippines or
abroad,” averred Jessel Autida, president of the Faremo workers union.

Faremo is the biggest
garments factory at the Cavite ecozone that shutdown last October 27 allegedly
due to lack of orders, a claim that has been debunked by the admission of one
of its clients that purchases have in fact been increased. Autida clarified
that Faremo workers are not on strike and want to work but have been locked
out. He explained that they are maintaining a 24/7 picket at the factory to
guard against machines being taken out of Faremo.

Faremo is owned by the Korean
multinational Hansoll and supplies to global garments brands Gap, JC Penney and
Kohl’s. Faremo workers have been on the picketline for more than a month now. According
to Autida, the union at Faremo was formed last year in a bid by workers to
improve pay, benefits and working conditions and stop mistreatment like verbal
abuse.

Autida also denounced PEZA IR official Allan Datahan
and the PEZA police for threatening the protesting workers with criminal charges
and dispersal using a firetruck for preventing the shipment of machines out of
the factory.

He explained that “We are not scared with Datahan’s
threats and we stood our ground for we are on the side of reason and law. It is
Datahan and his PEZA police minions that are in breach of the DOLE-PNP-PEZA
guidelines of 2011 that ban police, security guards and military from
intervening in labor disputes.”

Meanwhile the militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) for
the suspension of Datahan for his role in the tense standoff at the Faremo
factory. “Once more Datahan, who is a public official, has been caught conniving
with foreign investors who are trying to transgress our labor laws,” insisted
Dennis Sequena, PM-Cavite coordinator.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

A container van leaving the garments factory Faremo International Inc. (located at the Cavite export zone in Rosario, Cavite) was found full of computerized sewing machines after it was inspected by picketing workers. Two container vans had already left the factory earlier today.

Philippine Ecozone Authority (PEZA) labor relations head Allan Datahan and PEZA police came to the rescue, drove away supporters from the picketline, threatened the workers with charges for allegedly delaying the shipment and warned them that they would be dispersed by water from a firetruck. Workers stood their ground, insisting on an agreement last October during a Labor Department mediation that Faremo will not take out machines from the factory. The workers are also arguing that the police cannot meddle in a labor dispute as per provisions of the DOLE-PNP-PEZA Guidelines of 2011.

Faremo filed for closure last October due to alleged lack of orders and laid off some 1,000 workers. The workers alleges that the closure was meant to bust the union. A client of Faremo, the global garments brand Gap, has already admitted that it did not cancel orders and in fact, increased its purchase. Faremo also supplies to garments brands JC Penney and Kohl's. The union has been calling on Gap, JC Penney and Kohl's to remediate the code of conduct violations at their supplier factory Faremo.

On the occasion of the International Human Rights Week, DIGNIDAD Coalition will hold on December 8 a community workshop and walk dubbed as “WALK the TALK” to raise people’s awareness on human rights including social and economic rights. It will also highlight people’s calls addressed to the present administration to fulfill these rights.

There will be a discussion with about 100 women, men, and youth in the urban poor community in North Triangle. Then participants will breakout to make a poster or any visual representation of their appreciation of human rights (placard, drawing, etc.). By 4:30pm, the workshop participants and other people in the community – carrying their outputs from the workshop (drawing, placard, etc.) – will walk from the chapel going to Agham Road, then to Bantayog ng mga Bayani. The event will culminate with a noise barrage and candle lighting.

For Dignidad, the biggest war of the Duterte administration should be the war against poverty and inequality. This war is crucial in eliminating drugs, criminality, and terrorism. Many believe that his electoral victory is hugely a protest vote by the masses against the Luzon-based oligarchy and incidentally a vote to end chronic poverty, unemployment, and the social injustice stemming from the people’s lack of access to the essential requirements for a humane life.However, the development blueprint of his administration still looks sketchy. Until now, the people have yet to see a clear development program that will address the economic and social ills in the country.

Dignidad Coalition isa broad platform composed of 32 grassroots organizations, labor groups and other sectoral coalitions, movement‐based party‐lists and multi‐sectoral issue-based coalitions, church‐based organizations, human rights groups and academics advancing an agenda towards the realization of a life of dignity for all Filipinos. Itaims to raise people’s awareness on social and economic rights and to promote programs through the campaign for a Universal, Comprehensive, and Transformative Social Protection and its eight specific demands. These demands are on work and livelihood, social/public services, food, and social security. Among its members are: Kilos Maralita, WomanHealth, Freedom from Debt Coalition, PATAMABA, KABAPA, Coalition of Services of the Elderly, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, NASSA, SENTRO, Partido ng Manggagawa,, Alab Katipunan, ARYA, Kilusan, Rights Network, IRDF, PKMK)

Friday, December 2, 2016

The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today declared that workers should be
on high alert against violations of their rights during the holiday season. The
group announced this as the PNP declared yesterday that the country is high
terror alert.

“Wage theft and other labor rights abuse are a more pressing concern
for workers rather than bombing threats from terrorist groups. First on the
labor alert list are employers who plan to steal the 13th month pay
of their workers,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

PM reminded workers that all private sector employees, including contractuals
and kasambahays, are entitled to receive the equivalent of 1/12 of their total basic
pay for the calendar year no later than December 24 as entitlement.

“The only condition of the law is that workers have worked at least one
month during 2016. Wag tularan ang mga abusadong kapitalista. Like the giant shipyard
in Central Luzon, P100 is deducted from the 13th month pay of its thousands
of contractual workers for every day of absence within the year. Last month, an
association of kasambahays estimate the half of domestic workers do not get 13th
month pay or the full amount due them,” Magtubo insisted.

He added that “Next on the labor alert list are employers who do not
pay overtime and holiday pay even as they force workers to do extended work to meet
production demand and rush deadlines. These abusive employers are wage thieves.
Forced overtime is actually illegal and workers who refuse to work beyond eight
hours should not be penalized.”

“We are also on the look out for companies who have closed down and
trying to run away from their obligations to workers. They are Grinches
stealing Christmas from workers. One example is VTCT Business Technology, a
call center in Baguio City that suddenly closed last November 4 and left
workers with at least one month unpaid wages. Another is a BPO company in Cebu
City that shutdown abruptly a few days ago without paying its 213 employees two
months of salaries,” Magtubo elucidated.

The group also cited the case of the garments firm Faremo International
which shutdown in order to bust the union and whose workers will spend
Christmas at the picketline in the Cavite economic zone. “Management filed for
closure due to lack of orders but one of its clients, the global brand Gap, has
already admitted that they actually increased purchases for this year. We call
on Gap and Faremo’s other clients, JC Penney and Kohl’s, to act on the workers
complaints according to the terms of their supplier code of conduct which mandates
respect for the right to unionize,” Magtubo averred.

“Likewise on our list are employers who obstinately refuse to regularize
their employees even as the DOLE issues praise releases about 25,000 contractuals
allegedly made regular. Despite mediation by the DOLE, Philippine Airlines has resisted
re-employing the PALEA 600 as provided by a settlement agreement. Meanwhile in
the Cavite ecozone, a Japanese-owned electronics firm has snubbed a DOLE order
to regularize hundreds of its contractual workers after being found guilty of
labor-only contracting,” Magtubo stated.

He said that “Finally we are on heightened alert as the DOLE is set to
issue this month a new order on contractualization. We warn the DOLE and the
government against betraying its promise of ending endo by surrendering to the ‘win-win’
proposal of employers.”

The only
chance for Filipino workers to enjoy a life of dignity is to have secure and
good paying jobs. Contractualization is
spoiling this dream. And the government
is unacceptably prolonging the misery.

By raising the
bogey of massive job loss once the government accedes to workers’ demand for an
end to all forms of contractualization, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI),
was in effect forcing the workers to accept its win-win formula that allows,
rather than prohibit, the perpetuation of different forms of
contractualization.

The DTI
proposal is unacceptable on two grounds.
First, the end endo promise, the way it was presented by the President
during the election campaign, did not mean the end of one form of
contractualization and the legalization of another type. Second, legalizing sub-contracting and
outsourcing work arrangement is a ploy to shield employers from assuming their
inherent responsibility of providing direct and regular employment to their
workers. Regularization done in
contractor agencies rather than in mother companies is a fraud.

We don’t want
to assume that the DTI wish is the President’s command. But why is the
President’s command now marching towards a different direction?

Analogous to
the time of Gat Andres Bonifacio, the epidemic of contractualization diminishes
the plight of Filipino workers to a life of colonial subjects unable to
exercise their freedom because none of their masters today would want to recognize
their sovereign existence as regular employees.

Hindi
pinangarap ni Gat Andres Bonifacio ang ganitong buhay para sa mga
Pilipino. Filipinos did not wage a
revolution against colonial exploitation only to be subjected to another form
of oppression.

Several
thousand workers marched in key cities today to commemorate Bonifacio Day, demand
a ban on contractualization and protest the hero’s burial of Marcos.

The
nationwide rallies led by the labor coalition Nagkaisa were billed as a
“National Day of Action Vs. Endo.” Partido Manggagawa (PM) together with other
labor groups rejected the so-called “win-win” solution on contractualization
and pushed for an “end endo” formula of prohibition of subcontracting of
regular jobs.

“The
misnamed win-win scheme proposed by employers, and promoted by the Trade and
Labor Departments will not end endo. It is a scam that will lead to the utter
proliferation of outsourcing and contracting out of regular jobs by the
principal employers,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Member
groups of Nagkaisa marched from Welcome Rotonda to Morayta where it held a
program. Militant workers then joined other groups for another rally around
noon at Mendiola to register labor’s condemnation of the surprise hero’s burial
for Marcos. Labor organizations later participated in the broad protest at the
People Power Monument called by the Coalition Against the Marcos Burial.

In Cebu
City, workers marched from downtown Colon to Plaza Independencia. Industrial
and sugar workers rallied at the Bacolod marker Araneta. In Davao City, workers
marched from the Freedom Park to the Bonifacio Monument.

“A hero’s burial for the late dictator is
a stepping stone for the return to power of another Marcos. We can’t move on to
a future where the occupant of Malacanang is an unrepentant member of a family
that pillaged the public treasury and burdened generations with debt,” he
added.

Magtubo argued that “President Duterte
is accountable for this mockery of justice. He is in fact simply paying a debt,
probably not of gratitude. Duterte’s newfound respect for the letter of the law
in the case of Marcos’ burial contrasts with his utter disregard for due
process and human rights for most everything else, including the execution of a
bloody war on drugs.”

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Several
thousand workers are marching in key cities tomorrow to commemorate Bonifacio
Day, demand a ban on contractualization and protest the hero’s burial of
Marcos. Meanwhile the militant Partido Manggagawa (PM) today slammed the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for a statement that foreign firms will
pull out if contractualization is banned.

“The DTI is
just parroting the usual capitalist blackmail when workers make demands that
dent their profit. Firms, foreign or local, want contractualization because it
is a way to cheapen labor costs by denying them job security and the
opportunity to unionize and bargain for better wages and benefits,” argued Rene
Magtubo, PM national chair.

The
nationwide Bonifacio Day rallies by the labor coalition Nagkaisa are billed as
a “National Day of Action Vs. Endo.” PM together with other labor groups are
rejecting the so-called “win-win” solution on contractualization and pushing
for “end endo” formula of prohibition of subcontracting of regular jobs.

“The
misnamed win-win scheme of the employers and DTI will not end endo. It is a scam
that will lead to the utter proliferation of outsourcing and contracting out of
regular jobs by the principal employers,” explained Magtubo.

Member
groups of Nagkaisa will assemble tomorrow 8:00 a.m. at the Welcome Rotonda and
then march to Morayta where it will hold a program. Militant workers will then
join advocacy groups for another rally around noon at Mendiola to register
labor’s condemnation of the surprise hero’s burial for Marcos.

To express
labor’s twin demands tomorrow, PM is highlighting the slogan “Ilibing ang
kontraktwalisasyon hindi ang kasalanan ni Marcos.” Magtubo averred that
“Students have already made their stand known. Tomorrow workers will voice out
their position on the burning issues of our country.”

PM and
Nagkaisa are also holding mobilizations in key cities tomorrow. In Cebu City,
workers will march from downtown Colon to Plaza Independencia. Industrial and
sugar workers are going to rally at the Bacolod marker Araneta. In Davao City
tomorrow, workers are marching from the Freedom Park to the Bonifacio Monument.

PM also expressed doubt on the announcement the Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE) that 25,000 contractual workers have been made
regular. Instead PM revealed that the DOLE has not been able to enforce
regularization of workers in numerous instances. The militant group said that
there is a Japanese-owned electronics factory in the Cavite ecozone that has
refused to regularize hundreds of its agency workers despite an order from the
DOLE. It cited the case of the PALEA 600 who have not been reinstated by
Philippine Airlines as regular workers despite a settlement agreement that
provides for it. Finally PM also pointed out the case of 149 Pizza Hut
contractual workers who were retrenched when they sought regularization but
have been reinstated only as agency workers. “It seems that the news of 25,000
newly regularized workers is fake similar to posts in Mocha Uson's
controversial blog,” Magtubo said.

The labor coalition Nagkaisa wil lead the Bonifacio Day commemoration at Manila with a big rally to oppose the "win-win" solution and push for the "end endo" formula that entails prohibiting all forms of contractualization, including outsourcing.

Around noon, militant labor organizations and other advocacy groups will troop to Mendiola to register the voice of the working class against the hero's burial of Marcos.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

The labor group
Partido Manggagawa (PM) expressed doubt on the announcement of the Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE) that 25,000 contractuals have been regularized. DOLE
Secretary Silvestre Bello made the claim in a press conference in Malacanang.

“As much as
we welcome thousands upon thousands of endo workers becoming regular employees,
we are skeptical of DOLE’s claim because our own experience is that employers are
extremely resistant to regularization,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national
chair.

Meanwhile PM,
together with other groups like the Philippine Airlines union PALEA and the
labor center SENTRO, today held a rally at the DOLE main office to push for an
“end endo” formula of regulation and prohibition of subcontracting of regular
jobs. The protest today is a buildup for the big nationwide mobilization by
workers on November 30 to highlight the call to stop all forms of
contractualization, including outsourcing.

Magtubo added
that “We know for a fact that the DOLE
has not been able to enforce regularization of workers in numerous instances. To
cite a few examples. One is a Japanese-owned electronics factory in the Cavite
ecozone that has refused to regularize hundreds of its agency workers despite
an order from the DOLE. Second is the PALEA 600 who have not been reinstated by
Philippine Airlines as regular workers despite a settlement agreement that
provides for it. Finally the case of 149 Pizza Hut contractual workers who were
retrenched when they sought regularization but have been reinstated only as
agency workers.”

“The contagion of contractualization is spreading instead of
being contained. In Toledo City in Cebu province, a large mining company is laying
off workers who will then be hired as contractuals in agencies to do the same
work. So we ask DOLE: Show us the 25,000 new regulars!,” Magtubo averred.

He quipped that “It seems that the news of 25,000 newly
regularized workers is fake similar to posts in Mocha Uson's controversial
blog,” he insisted.

Magtubo
also slammed Bello’s endorsement of the employers’ “win-win” formula on
contractualization. “The so-called win-win formula of the employers and now the
DOLE will not end endo. The ‘win-win’ scheme is a scam that will lead to the
utter proliferation of outsourcing and contracting out of regular jobs in the
principal employers. The Labor Secretary is turning his
back on the participants to the three Labor Summits convened by the DOLE in
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao who resolved to end all forms of contractualization,” insisted Magtubo.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

The militant labor party Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed Labor
Secretary Silvestre Bello’s endorsement of the employers’ “win-win” formula on
contractualization. In a press conference yesterday, Bello claimed regularizing
workers in the agencies will deliver the administration’s promise to end
contractualization.

“The so-called win-win formula of the employers and now the DOLE
will not end endo. It is a blatant betrayal of the campaign promise of then-candidate
Rodrigo Duterte to eradicate contractualization. The ‘win-win’ scheme is a scam
that will lead to the utter proliferation of outsourcing and contracting out of
regular jobs in the principal employers,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national
chair.

PM announced that they will hold a rally tomorrow at the DOLE main
office to protest Bello’s endorsement of the “win-win” scheme and to push for an
“end endo” formula of regulation and prohibition of subcontracting of regular
jobs. Also PM, the Nagkaisa labor coalition and workers groups are gearing for a
big mobilization on November 30 to highlight the call to stop all forms of
contractualization, including outsourcing.

The group also
expressed doubt on Bello’s statement that 25,000 contractual workers have been
made regular. Instead PM revealed that the DOLE has not been able to enforce
regularization of workers in numerous instances. The militant group said that there
is a Japanese-owned electronics factory in the Cavite ecozone that has refused
to regularize hundreds of its agency workers despite an order from the DOLE. It
cited the case of the PALEA 600 who have not been reinstated by Philippine
Airlines as regular workers despite a settlement agreement that provides for
it. Finally PM also pointed out the case of 149 Pizza Hut contractual workers
who were retrenched when they sought regularization but have been reinstated
only as agency workers.

Magtubo said “It seems that the news
of 25,000 newly regularized workers is fake similar to posts in Mocha Uson's
controversial blog.”

He insisted that Secretary Bello is revising the
promise of Pres. Duterte by arguing that the latter’s marching order is only to
end “illegal contractualization.” Magtubo also countered that the Bello his turning
back on the participants to the three Labor Summits convened by the DOLE in
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao who resolved to end all forms of
contractualization.

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Our Vision

Our dream is a world that gives due importance to the role of the working class and respects the dignity of labor. A social order where the working men and women of the world live together in peace, harmony and progress.Our aspirations lie in the emancipation of labor. A government that is truly of the workers, by the workers and for the workers.

Our hopes rest in a future where social progress thrives not for the benefit of a few people but for the development and richness of the entire humankind. A society that is free from the chains of wage slavery and where oppression does not exist.

Our Mission

Forge the unity of the workers into an independent working class party to organize them as a potent political force in social transformation towards the advancement and protection of labor from the scourge of globalization, establishment of a genuine workers’ government and the emancipation of the working class from capitalist exploitation and wage slavery.

Workers Unite!

The working class is the most important class in society. But, labor will only be a force to reckon with at a time when labor assumes the responsibility of leading the struggle to a decent living - free from exploitation of the propertied elite.

The time has come to rally every underprivileged sector of the society, to take the bull by the head and confront the issues of today. The working class must take an active role in every political exercise presented. The backbone of the independent party must be comprised of the working class with the other marginalized sectors in solidarity.

We must organize politically.

This is our own challenge and we must vow not to shirk from it.

Our future is in our hands, in our unity, in our struggle, in our party.